root password

[Willy K. Hamra]

Martin Laberge wrote:
> On Saturday 28 June 2008 10:56:26 Willy Hamra wrote:
>> 2008/6/28 John Pierce <john.j35 at gmail.com>:
>>
>>>> Sure.. Use it all the time. It's just that there are times *I* need to be
>>> root
>>>> to get things done and and sudo just doesn't get it.
>>>>
>>>> I've been hacking Unix since the mid 80's and Linux since 0.12 (early
>>> 1990's).
>>>> I understand the risks.
>>>>
>>> Then just enable the root account and set a password, then you can su
>>> - all you want.
>>>
>>> On my machine, the one I use all the time, I enabled the root account.
>>>  On the other machines in
>>> the house I have left it disabled.
>>>
>>> it is a much better practice to use the no root approach, i personally
>> never felt i need the root account, sudo does it all for me, and in the very
>> rare cases i need to do many things with root access, i simply "sudo su",
>> all the system would still be using my privileges and rights, only this
>> shell is running as root.
>> and in anyways, we are using kubuntu, and one of the main points that
>> distinguish *buntu from the rest of the distros is the "no root" approach,
>> it can be frustrating for people coming from other distros but thats the
>> *buntu way!
>>
> 
> What if your /home directory is mounted on another disk,
> and unfortunately you can't start this disk. (for wathever reason, ex: fsck, fail, ...)
> 
> Then you can't log in your account in text or X mode.
> 
> You NEED root then. (no root passwd and you cant even repair your filesystems)
> 
> Or you are stuck to an external ressource to access your disk. (ex: live-cd, ...)
> 
> Yes you can USE a system without setting a passwd for root,
> But when life happens, it is not always like it was supposed to be...
> 
> And you can set another different passwd for root than your personal account.
> 
the users aren't stored in /home, they are in /etc, if i'm not mistaken,
it would let you sign in, then complain about a missing home directory,
and chooses / as your root, at least, this is what happenned with me
when i built my first "linux from scratch" system, and idiotically
forgot to create a /home/user directory :P

-- 
Willy K. Hamra
Manager of Hamra Information Systems
Co. Manager of Zeina Computer & Billy Net
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